Census Records . . .

. . . are your friend! Okay, they can't buy you drinks, or designate drive for you, but . . .

. . . they can provide useful information about siblings of your direct ancestors.

For example, I didn't know that my great-grandmother Mary Willie Watson Boone (maternal) had quite a few siblings. In fact, other than the fact that she married Victor Ivo Boone and had 15 children by him, I didn't know much about her.

Now, I know that she had seven brothers/sisters, and that her father Richard Hiliary Watson had nine brothers/sisters.

Census records can also help you find out who your ancestors married.

So, for the past few days, I've been adding siblings, marriages and children to my direct ancestors, because . . .

. . . I want as complete a portrait of the family as I can possibly get.

I want future researchers to see the connection between family members, and have enough information to make the necessary connections in their own research.

So, when dancing with the ancestors, pay close attention to census records.

Oh, did I mention, that when reviewing census pages, I found that my great-grandfather Smith (paternal) lived just a few doors down from his future second wife? Uh-huh, try that one on for size. I wonder if she baby-sat for him and his first wife. EEEWWW!

S

Member Connect

Member Connect is a neat feature on the Ancestry site that allows a person to connect with other Ancestry members doing research on the same family member.

Now, as I've said before, Ancestry, in many instances, is suspect at best because most people don't take the time to verify the information they're linking to on the site.

I do. So . . . my trees are as accurate as I can make them, based on information from family records and the Internet.

But . . . back to Member Connect. What I've been able to do using Member Connect is verify dates of birth/death for relatives on the many branches outside the direct descent of the family tree.

My grandfather was one of 10 children. I've gone in, with information provided by my uncle, and added the marriages/children of all his siblings. Trust me, lengthy task when you're talking about a Catholic family.

But . . . in some instances, I didn't have dates of birth/death for spouses, or dates of birth for the children.

I have been able to find this information by using Member Connect on the Ancestry site. Woo-hoo!

It's nice to have actual dates of birth/death versus blank spaces, and to have the information regarding where they were born/died.

So, if you hit a stumbling block in your research, check out the Member Connect option. You just might find the information you're looking for!

Have fun as you dance with the ancestors!!

S

Great Grandpa William Joshua Sweat (maternal)

Great Grandpa William Joshua Sweat was born March 1, 1859 to Alexander and Catherine Langdon Sweat. He was one of three children - William, James, and Elizabeth.

On October 26, 1886, he married Margaret Morris. They had the following children:

• Joseph Leo
• James Monroe
• George Alexander
• John Patrick
• Benjamin Franklin
• William Oscar (Papaw)
• Catherine Elizabeth (Lizzie)
• Mary Ida
• Charles Daniel

Sometime around 1906/1907, William Joshua Sweat disappeared.

Family legend (okay, not really legend, but . . .) has it that, at the same time great grandpa went missing, so did a woman from the same town. Uh-huh, yeah, you don't need to be a genius to figure that one out.

Papaw (William Oscar) spent his entire life searching for his father. He died not knowing what happened to his father.

At some point, sometime in the 80s, Uncle Joe (Rothman) met a man at Fort Knox that bore a striking resemblance to the Sweat family, I believe to Uncle John (but could be wrong on that one). After speaking with the man, and mentioning William Joshua's disappearance, the man admitted there was a big family secret in his family that the family didn't talk about.

Long story short, the man agreed to meet with Papaw. He drove to Lebanon Junction and . . . knocked on the front door.

Well, anyone who knew papaw always came to the kitchen door. The front door was just for appearances, not to be used . . . unless you were going to sit out on the front porch and watch the many, many, many, many grandkids race around the front yard. Boy, those were the days.

So, papaw didn't answer the front door. The man thought no one was home. The man went away and . . . the mystery remains unsolved. Was he a descendant of William Joshua Sweat? Did William Joshua start another family? How long did he live?

At this point, we don't know - and maybe never will - the answers to those questions. All we know for sure is that one day, in 1906/1907, Great Grandpa went out for a pack of cigarettes (sorry, couldn't resist) and never came back.

Karen Skees - our second cousin, third cousin (her great-grandfather was James Sweat, William's brother, and her grandmother was Louisa Boone, mamaw's sister) - has found some information, but hasn't had time to research any of it . . . so far.

The information she discovered was that in 1906, after some tragedy where four children died, a lay person at St. Vincent de Paul church in New Hope, KY baptized the four children, and listed the mother as a non-Catholic, and the father as . . . William Joshua Sweat.

Dun, dun, dun . . .

At that time, there was only one William Joshua Sweat (dear old great grandpa - well, not so old at that time) in New Hope, Nelson County, Kentucky.

So, more questions . . . Was William Joshua actually their father? Did he have another family that no one knew about? Did he just believe those children couldn't go to heaven without being baptized? Did he give them his name so they could get to heaven?

Well, at this point, we just have more questions. Maybe one day we'll dig deep enough to find the truth. Maybe one day we'll know why great-grandpa disappeared.

Until then, I only have my warped imagination and the inspiration for an historical mystery loosely based on great grandpa's disappearance. Oh, the places my imagination has gone as I plot out this future novel.

Did I mention that on her death certificate, Margaret Morris Sweat is listed as a . . . widow?!?!? Uh, huh, maybe he didn't just disappear, maybe . . .

S

FamilyTree Maker Software

Greatest software . . . EVER! Okay, probably not, but it is a nifty software program put out by Ancestry.

So, the other day, I bit the bullet and bought the software. It arrived this past Saturday. Woo-hoo!

Great stuff, people. Great stuff.

Descendant Charts - these are the greatest. I can click on an ancestor, click generate and voila . . . I have the descendant chart for my 12th Great Grandfather and . . .

. . . I can click another button and change the number of generations revealed.

So, if I don't want to include myself (or my siblings on the chart), I can just alter the number of generations and stop with mom/dad, or my grandparents, or whatever! Woo-hoo! This ability is coming in handy as I create the charts for the documents I'm working on for the Sweat, Boone, Mitchell, Smith . . . and all the other branches of the family tree.

This program also links to my Ancestry account, so it pulled all the family tree information I compiled directly into the software, as well as all pictures I had uploaded, and any other information - death certificates, marriage records, census records, and, well, whatever - I added over the past few months.

Place Charts - these will detail the various places all, or some, of the ancestors have lived throughout the generations. It's pretty awesome to see the places displayed in a chart, and on a map as well.

So, if you're considering doing ancestor research, you might consider this software, or some other software, which will help in compiling/organizing the information you find out there.

Great Great Grandma Lane . . .

. . . and the many spellings of her last name! This is on the paternal side of my family tree.

Bear with me on this one, because we have . . .

Halterman
Haltman
Holtman
Holdman
Haldeman
. . . and a few more to boot! Geesh!

Talk about variations of a last name, let alone her first name . . .

Emaline
Emmaline
Emmoline
Emma
E. C.

Woo-hoo for variations . . . NOT!

So, if ancestor research wasn't hard enough to begin with, there are all these freaking variations! Geesh!

But . . .

The variations in spelling is only one of the issues when dancing with the ancestors. You see, the more you dig, the more likely a mystery will unfold . . . or at least that's been my experience so far.

Let's take dear old Great Great Grandma Emmaline Halterman (Holtman, Holdman, Etc.) Lane.

When using FamilySearch, I came across my Great Grandmother's (Martha Lane Smith's) death certificate, which was witnessed by her daughter, my Great Aunt Clara Smith who - in a fit of pique, or perhaps with just a lack of knowledge - decided to throw a wrench into my (her great-nephew, and most likely favorite great-nephew - just sayin' - ha) research.

How did Aunt Clara do this? Well, let me tell you . . .

You see, Aunt Clara witnessed the death certificate and filled out the pertinent information, such as: deceased's date of birth, deceased's mother's name, deceased's father's name, etc. Fine, dandy, all is right with the world, except . . .

Dear, dear Great Aunt Clara filled out the following about her mother's (Martha Lane Smith) parents: Emaline Holdman and Franklin Pierce Lane.

WTH!!!????

Emaline C. Holdman (Holtman, Haltman, Haldeman, Etc.) married Hardin Smith Lane on December 30, 1855 . . . and I have the marriage records to prove that little event. Emaline and Hardin had four children: Mary, Martha (my great-grandmother), Franklin Pierce, and Hardin Smith Jr., who was born in March 1863, three months after his father was killed in December 1862 during the Battle of Murfreesboro during the little event known as the Civil War.

So, who in the heck is Franklin Pierce Lane . . . and when, if, did Great-Great Grandma Lane marry him?

I don't think she did. I think, as often happens, information is misconstrued.

I'm guessing that Franklin Pierce Smith, the son of Emmaline and Hardin, as the oldest male, at some point assumed head-of-household duties. In fact, Emmaline - according to census records - lived with Franklin, his wife and children, for many years, before moving in with her oldest daughter Mary Lane-Winnett.

There aren't any records of an Emmaline and Franklin P. Smith marrying. In fact, other than her marriage record to Hardin Smith, there aren't any other marriage records out there on her. Then again, remarrying a Lane would have been highly possible, since the Lane family was quite numerous (Hardin had 11 brothers/sisters) in Warren County, TN during that time.

However . . . all census records indicate that Emmaline never remarried. I think poor Aunt Clara was just a bit confused and listed Franklin as Martha's father since he, at some point, had taken on the role of head-of-household.

See, isn't dancing with the ancestors fun?

So, always remember, and never forget, when dancing with the ancestors . . . Perseverance, Patience, and Persistence.

Also remember that human error plays a large part. The younger generations often do not have a clue what Mamaw and Papaw's last name is, or whether Grandpa Smith is the first or second husband of Grandma Smith.

So, as you dance with the ancestors, remember to dig, dig, and dig some more. Sooner or later you'll, hopefully, find the truth of the matter.

S

The Name Game

No, not banana, fanana, bo . . .

. . . but rather the multiple spellings of a single name.

For example: my mother's maiden name is Sweat, but once upon a time it was spelled Swett, and even Swete! Woo-hoo, makes digging for ancestors quite the challenge.

Then, there's my Great-Great Grandma Emmaline Halterman or . . . is it Holdman . . . or Holtman . . . or . . .

ARRRRRGGGGHHHH! Talk about making a descendant's life miserable.

Dear old, Great-Great Grandma Emmaline had quite the variations in her last name, and that's even before I go way back into the history banks researching her ancestors.

Some examples . . .

• Marriage Record = Halterman
• Her daughter's death certificate, Great Grandma Martha Lane Smith, mother's last name = Holdman
• Her death certificate, father's last name = Haltman
• A story about her husband, who died in the Civil War, lists her last name as . . . Holdman

So, four variations on a single name. Plus, there's a book about Warren County, TN that lists the last name as Halterman. Ah, the joys of variations. Joy, Joy, Joy . . . NOT!

So, when researching your ancestors, understand that name variations will play a big part in finding, or not finding, the information you are looking for. Don't give up, just use variants of the last name and - fingers crossed - hope for the best. It's worked for me. Woo-hoo!!!

S

The More You Dig . . .

. . . the bigger the skeleton you find! Ha! Kidding.

. . . the bigger the mystery you might discover.

Case in point: Great-Great Grandpa Alexander Sweat, son of Israel Sweat and ??????

Yeah . . . ??????

According to what my grandfather (Papaw, for those in the know) knew, Alexander Sweat was the son of Israel Sweat and Lotty Hare (more on her in a later post - boy, do I have more about her in a later post).

Well, fine, dandy, and all that jazz. Except . . .

. . . Great-Great-Great Grandpa Israel Sweat was married . . . multiple times.

First to Sally Russell who died after the birth of her sixth child, John Wesley Sweat, in May 1823.

Fine, dandy, no problem.

Alexander Sweat was allegedly born July 2, 1822 . . . or is it 1824 . . . or is it 1832. Well, therein lies the mystery my digging into records discovered.

First - ancestry lists his birth as 1822. Ancestry is suspect, so . . .

Second - A census record, showing Charlotte (aka Lotty aka . . . just wait until you read the post on her), Israel was deceased by this time, and some others, Alex included, lists his birth date as 1832.

Third - Alexander's death certificate lists his birth as July 2, 1824.

So, now I have three potential dates-of-birth for Alexander Sweat.

Find, dandy . . . CRAP!

Now, if he was born in 1822, then Sally Russell and not Lotty Hare was most likely his mother.

But . . .

If he was born in 1824, well . . . Israel and Charlotte didn't marry until October 1827.

Uh, huh, you do the math.

Now, if he was born in 1832 . . . fine, dandy, no problem, except . . .

. . . his death certificate lists his birth as 1824.

Fine, dandy . . . CRAP!

So who in the heck is Alexander Sweat's mommy dearest? Sally? Charlotte? Some unknown woman?

I don't have a clue, but . . .

My best guess is that Israel, with an infant on hand, married the first available woman to a) care for the infant and b) care for his other children who were all of a young age.

Hey, trust me, from the research I've done, multiple marriages way back when were the norm. Heck, Great-Great Grandpa Miles Nicholas Boone only waited 2 1/2 months after his wife's death during childbirth to remarry. Eeeewwww! But, seriously, it's what seemed to happen a lot back then.

So, it's highly likely he remarried, got his wife with child, and then she died either in childbirth, or some time soon after, and definitely (well, hopefully) before he married Charlotte, who was already a widow and had a young child of her own, in 1827).

So, as you dance with your ancestors, prepare to run into roadblocks and find mystery after mystery.

Fun times, people, fun times!!!

S